How to get into EM Mode

The LS pro has a mechanism built in to revert back to EM Mode if the box wasn`t able to boot three times in a row.
Now we want to use this to force the box into EM Mode

Do this 3 times

1) Turn on your LS pro and hear the first sound.
2a) Stock initrd
You will hear no second sound. Just go to 3 after 20 - 23 seconds
2b) lb_worm`s enhanced initrd (bundled with freelink/custom firmwares)
The second sound is played after about 20 - 23 seconds.
3) Press the power button as long as it takes so the LS pro turns off.

How to enable telnet in EM Mode

possibly if you use a newer ramdisk then telnet might run by default...then there is no need for using acp_commander.

Now telnet is running and the root password is cleared in EM Mode. this change is non-persistent.
if you reboot your box now, telnet wouldn`t run. you would have to use acp_commander again.

How to login in EM Mode with telnet

if you use dhcp then your box might even use dhcp in EM Mode...mine does.
if you do not use dhcp you might have to change your static IP to one from the 192.168.11.x range.
the LS Pro should respond to 192.168.11.150

1) execute

telnet <linkstation-ip>

2) and login with "root"
no password should be asked.

Partition Table before modification

1) use fdisk to partition /dev/sda, start with that and then look at the partitiontable by hitting "p" + enter

so basically we want to have a bigger /dev/sda2 (/dev/sda4 + /dev/sda6 need to be smaller).
this means we have to delete the complete partition table first.

HowTo setup the internal HDD

Delete all partitions

sh-2.05b# fdisk /dev/sda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 30401.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OS
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Additional info

What are these partitions for?

/dev/sda1:
the partition which normally gets mounted to /boot.
if this partition gets full you get this acp-error when you try to reflash the box
(in that case you have to delete some old files of the hddrootfs there)

/dev/sda2:
here is the normal unpacked rootfs stored. in fact this is / while in hddrootmode.

/dev/sda4:
this is an extended partiton. it is just a container for /dev/sda5 + /dev/sda6

/dev/sda5:
this partition is used for swap

/dev/sda6:
the partition which normally gets mounted to /mnt/disk1/
this is where all your shares + data is stored.

Even more partitions, to ease your life

Those who need it may create additional partitions at the end of the large data partition /dev/sda6, thus keeping the partitioning scheme as before up to this partition (might keep the firmware updater happy on future updates), and making the data saved on them persistent during future firmware or OS upgrades / changes, without having to backup everything.
Of course, they are optional, you can certainly do without them, it's just a proposal.
Even better, if you just create them while you still can (no data yet on the big partition) and just mount them when the time comes, it's just good practice to be prepared...

/dev/sda7:
While some users install an alternative firmware on the LSpro, if they choose a full OS like Debian or Gentoo, they might even want to use the box as a home LAN server, maybe with centralized authentication (for Linux and Windows via Samba + OpenLDAP). In that case, it's common to have the /home in Linux and also the Windows user profiles mounted from the server. It is then very advisable to have a separate partition on the server for this, which will hold user settings, important documents for few users in a household. Big files would be off-loaded to the large data partition anyway. You should know how big you'd make this partition, according to your needs.

/dev/sda8:
An extra partition for OS-es like Gentoo, in which to hold the whole package database files, downloads and binaries built on the poor LSpro, which would only bloat the root files system, and also in order to have them ready to use after a major Gentoo re-installation.
Of course, if you don't create this partition, you can still use a symlink to a directory on your large data partition for this purpose. If you create it, well, a size of 3 to 4GB would be good, as you might want to export these directories to other Gentoo machines in your LAN, too. More info when the upcoming Genlink for LSpro is released.

what is the best way to backup the data from EM if you still have something important on your disk?

this was the case for me..i wanted to rescue the folder where i had all my linkstation-related stuff...
GPL, compiled apps and so on.

i only had a 1 GB USB-Stick, but this obviously also works with a big usbdisk.

1) while in EM Mode connect your usbstick/hdd to the LS Pro
2) create a linux partition on the usbstick/hdd
fdisk /dev/sdb
d
n
p
1
<enter>
<enter>
3) now you have a linux partition which covers the complete usb-disk/stick
4) create an ext2 filesystem on the disk (FAT is NOT supported by the kernel while in the Ramdisk)